We are continuing with our study of Section Al-Furqan of the Qur’an. We last investigated the verse that mentioned religious teachings must be open and freely accessible where I must not expect any reward for conveying it. The latter part of the verse mentioned that one should pursue a way to their Lord.
Let’s understand with a little more detail the difference between the words “صِرَاط” and “سَبِيلً” both usually translated as the “way to their Lord”. The word “صِرَاط” recited in Section Fatiha can be understood as a big highway open to everyone to connect to their Lord. All the believers go through that big highway.
Whereas “سَبِيلً” is more specific to the individual where everyone has their own “سَبِيلً”. Another way to see this is that everyone has their way of reaching God that is customized to them according to their character.
There is another word conveying the meaning of “way” called “طريق ” which is the difficult way that is not for everyone to take. It is not dangerous but a harder way to take. Some scholars describe it as follows: Rather than choosing the easy acts to practice, to reach out to God, to gain His sympathy, favor and love for him, one may choose the harder way. This all depends on one’s character; on how much they can take and do. Some people study hard to get to know every detail in their relationship to God, and some may not choose to. The Sufi tradition follows this way of getting to their Lord by working hard in their practices to reach and acknowledge God. In the Qur’an all of these three words are used depending on the context.
Practically, when we study the Qur’an, we must pay attention to the words that are used as they are deliberately used there. There are many words in the Qur’an that are synonymous with slight shades of meaning. Every word is chosen to fit within its context, within the context of the preceding and proceeding verses.
For example, Section Fatiha is the first thing that believers are taught. The phrase “ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ”, translated as “guide us along the straight path” is for me where I ask to connect to my Creator. That is the general way of connecting with God, the Creator of the universe, to put me on the believers’ highway where all the Muslims are united together. However, in the verse that we studied “ٱتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ ٱلرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًۭا” translated as “anyone who wills, should pursue a way to their Lord”, we should be careful with the word of “سَبِيلًۭا” used here. According to the capacity, character of the person, he/she would find the way to his/her Lord to gain God’s love. The word “ٱتَّخْتُ” means the path that I have chosen personally for myself. The way I see my Lord, accordingly I would choose the way to Him. The “سَبِيلً” of an individual is not out of the way of “صِرَاط” but “سَبِيلً” is a specific way within “صِرَاط”, so is the hard way of “طريق ” within the general highway of “صِرَاط” but walking as if you are hammering your path, taking your steps harder.
Some practical examples of connecting to God are when I pray in a group at the masjid, that is the “صِرَاط”, the general way. Afterwards, I come home and do some additional prayers on my own then that is “سَبِيلً”, specific to me. Someone may like to study the Qur’an more, another may like to study more “hadith” narrations of the prophet (pbuh), some like to study the exegesis of the Qur’an, some like to give more into charity, someone would fast more optional days. According to one’s character, one may have their individual way.
The “طريق ” is for more specialized people where some may prefer to study the Qur’an for 10 hours per day. Some prefer to study the Sufi publications and teachers most of the day. Some have a disciplined way of living by being mindful of every minute of their living.
All these ways are to connect all my feelings to God only without diverting their direction to other temporary aims, thus attain God’s love which is what I need, that He is pleased with me. I need to be pleased with Him. When I am pleased with Him, I expect Him to be pleased with me..
If we are not native Arabic speakers, we would try to understand the message of the Qur’an via some translation. This does not mean that the native Arabic speakers get better understanding than the one who is reading the translation. If they have not studied the principles of understanding the meaning of the Qur’an, they would get the meaning only as much as they have developed themselves in their understanding. There are many aspects of specializing in studying the Qur’an and one does not have enough time in life to master all of them. One can choose one or at most two to study either grammar, vocabulary, explanations, eloquence, rhetoric, general study of the Qur’an, historical background, occasions of Revelation, relationship between verses, relationship between sections of the Qur’an, usage of words and the location of the verses.
An example for the usage of words in verses of the Qur’an where there is a deliberate usage of specific words that fit within the context. The phrase “أَتَى” and “جَآءَ” both mean that “something, someone came”. However, “أَتَىٰ” is something that came easily and “جَآءَ” is for something heavy that comes with difficulty or indicating a severe occasion, could be a warning such as in verse (79:34) “فَإِذَا جَآءَتِ ٱلطَّآمَّةُ ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ”, the way doomsday comes bringing news of the Hereafter. Another verse, (43:30) “وَلَمَّا جَآءَهُمُ ٱلْحَقُّ قَالُوا۟ هَـٰذَا سِحْرٌۭ وَإِنَّا بِهِۦ كَـٰفِرُونَ” indicating that truth has come with all its authority. Based on the context, the “truth” came could be heavy in terms of describing the world will be destroyed, other times could be lighter in terms of delivering some news to pay attention to. The usage of “أَتَىٰكَ” as in (51:24) “هَلْ أَتَىٰكَ حَدِيثُ ضَيْفِ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ ٱلْمُكْرَمِينَ”, “Has the story of Abraham’s honored guests ever come to you?” and (88:1), “has the story of the Overreaching event reached you”.
Let’s study the next verse:
وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱلْحَىِّ ٱلَّذِى لَا يَمُوتُ وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِهِۦ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِهِۦ بِذُنُوبِ عِبَادِهِۦ خَبِيرًا
25:58 Put your trust in the Ever Living One, Who never dies, and glorify His praises. For it is sufficient that no one knows His creatures’ transgressions as fully as He does,
The word “بِذُنُوبِ” is translated as “transgressions”. There are other words as well in the Qur’an to indicate transgressions, that are based on the context. The word “بِذُنُوبِ” has a lighter meaning than “transgressions”, i.e. something one does that makes them feel ashamed of. The word comes from “tail” that is behind the animals to cover the shameful place. We can take the meaning of this word as “not being respectful to my Creator as He deserves without denying Him, or deviating in the path that takes me to Him”.
This verse is guiding the readers to pay attention to what kind of “Lord” they need. If I want to glorify God, praise Him, the One who deserves to be glorified, all the praises must be directed to the one who is Ever Living, never dies. For example, when I see something beautiful, I must reflect on it in order to acknowledge the One who made the thing beautiful. The Qur’an is inviting us, not commanding us to put our trust in Him. If I want to receive the trust of God, I must find out who deserves to be trusted. I am advised to search for the one who never disappears and is Ever Alive.
Can we trust someone who is not “living” such as “matter” or “nature”? If they are not living beings, they can never have consciousness through which they will think of what I need and decide to provide it. The Qur’an is telling me to be careful; how can I trust something that is not living, not conscious to know me and my needs. The universe is continuously changing and disappearing from our perceptions, how can I trust it? This message of trusting the Ever Living One is not a command but I must investigate and come to that conclusion.
Your mission is to announce the praiseworthy qualities of the Creator as you observe them in the creation. How can I do that? I see the praiseworthy qualities of the Creator in the universe. Whenever I am interacting with anything in the universe, they all come with qualities that do not originate from them but belong to the One who gave them those qualities. I don’t need to have a special occasion such as going to the mosque to do that. This announcement of God’s qualities must not necessarily be on a special occasion or while praying together as a community, or breaking fast as a community. The Muslim community is expected to be a disciplined community where everyone will have his/her own special way of praising God as well. For example, plants are not flowering by themselves, who is flowering and beautifying them? “Ya Jameel”, the Beautifying One who creates everything in a beautiful way so that I love it. During winter, snow and rain are created in a beautiful way, full of wisdom, “Ya Hakeem”, “Ya Raheem” (O! All Wise one, O! All Infinitely Merciful One). If I say that “snow is very useful”, that would be praising the snow, not the Creator of the snow, so I must be careful.
The phrase “وَكَفَىٰ بِهِۦ بِذُنُوبِ عِبَادِهِۦ خَبِيرًا” is translated as “For it is sufficient that no one knows His creatures’ transgressions as fully as He does.” This means, just do your mission and “leave them to Me. I know what they have been doing.” I must look at the context of putting my trust in the Creator of the universe from the beginning to the end, the Ever Living One, the One who is self-Existing, never disappears, never changes. The latter part of the verse mentions that no one knows His creatures’ transgressions as fully as He does, with usage of “خَبِيرًا”. He must be fully aware of all the details including my imagination, my feelings, fully aware of every detail of what is going on in me. In a way, He says: “I know what you are doing, what everyone is doing, don’t try to read people’s intentions, blame them for their wrongs, leave them to Me as I am aware, and I will take care of them.” This tells me that I must keep myself within my limits and try to stick to my responsibilities. Trusting in God means to leave all matters to Him, not to judge any other being whether they are going to Paradise or Hell. We must respect people’s free will where everyone must take care of it. Everyone is responsible for their own free will. I can only remind them by delivering the message and must leave them alone as the Qur’an recommends.